The Soundtrack To my Life. 03/07/2012.

“Born To Add: Great Rock & Roll” (1983).
By: Sesame Street.
Why You Should Get It…

“Bringing It All Back Home” (1965).
By: Bob Dylan.
Why You Should Get It…

“Highway 61 Revisited” (1965).
By: Bob Dylan.
Why You Should Get It…

“JAWS” (OST): Anniversary Collector’s Edition (2000)
By: John Williams.
Why You Should Get It… I feel that I should point out something about the soundtrack to the cinematic classic, “JAWS”.
If, like me, you have the original soundtrack on vinyl, you don’t have what you think you have. The original vinyl soundtrack was a re-recording of the film score specifically for the soundtrack. Make sense?
Basically, if you have the original soundtrack to the film “JAWS”, you don’t.

This my friends, is why you really need the ‘Collector’s Anniversary Edition’. It IS the same recording as used in the film without the 70’s tape hiss etc… and it sounds better than ever!

“Banga” (2012).
By: Pattis Smith.
Why You Should Get It… The really (un or intentionally) freaky cover of Neil Young’s ‘After The Gold Rush’:

Which leads me on to…

“Americana” (2012).
By: Neil Young & Crazy Horse.
Why You Should Get It… Hands in the air? Honest engine? I don’t think you should get this album. Not because it’s bad, just because as far as Neil Young & Crazy Horse standards go, “Americana” is just not that good. It also has a lot do with Neil’s choice of songs. See, there are hundreds of better versions by other people and bands out there.

That said, every single video for the album is old timey and brilliant!
This is my favourite:

“Rock Around The Clock” (1954).
By: Bill Haley & The Comets.
Why You Should Get It… Whenever I think of Rock & Roll, I think of Little Richard, Berry, Jerry Lee and then Presley. I almost never think about Bill Haley and yet he was the one who made it all popular.

“Rock Around The Clock” is a peach of a song and the album is brilliant too with none of the filler you’d expect from an old Rock band like this BUT! Sadly, this record was deleted from circulation some time ago.

I found a mint condition copy in Glasgow’s Panopticon Shop and it only cost me ₤1! I was lucky that day and that night, I danced around my house to the sound of this:

“The Complete Million Dollar Quartet” (2006).
By: The Million Dollar Quartet.
Why You Should Get It… This is one of the greatest records I own. The Million Dollar Quartet was the name given to a one-off chance jam session at Sun Records in 1956 between Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins. The results are GOLDEN! I’ve spoken to hardcore Elvis fanatics and they don’t even rate this record! That’s how good it is!
Never trust an Elvis fan who loves his entire discography!

See, The Million Dollar Quartet session was an unplanned jam. There are bum notes, studio chat, giggling and false starts ALL OVER THE PLACE!
It’s an utter joy to listen to and you feel like you’re right there in the room with these people.

Elvis is obviously the star of the show here and you can actually hear the awe coming from the other 3 whenever he says something.
The Million Dollar Quartet session actually highlights how amateur Presley was as a guitar player and how mesmerisingly fiery Jerry lee Lewis was as a piano player.

There’s a great moment where Elvis explains how he saw some unknown and unnamed singer do a song called “Don’t Be Cruel” and how he himself took some of Wilson’s mannerisms for his own version. The singer Presley was talking about was Jackie Wilson and you can hear it here:

Johnny Cash is particularly quiet during the entire session and Carl Perkins is…Carl Perkins but for me, Jerry Lee Lewis is the main man of the quartet and you can easily pick up on him silently plotting to wipe the floor with Elvis and as far as I’m concerned, that’s exactly what he does when he rattles this off on his piano at the end of the record:

“The Chess Story 1947-1975” Volume 1 (1999).
By: Various Artists.
Why You Should Get It… I’ve mentioned this 15 disc set before and I’m sure I’ll talk about it more in the future because it’s ASTONISHING! It’s probably the greatest collection of popular and rare blues music that exists. I keep being caught off guard by little tracks that I’d maybe missed before and a few days ago, this wee shiny gem had me cracking up right in the middle of the street…

I couldn’t get enough of the 15 Chess Story discs. I needed more! I dug around and discovered THIS:

“The Complete Stax/Volt Singles 1959-1968” Volume 1 (2003).
By: Various Artists.
Why You Should Get It… I managed to get my hands on Volume 1 of 3 which is 9 Discs worth of some of the greatest music that’s ever been!

So far, my favourite track is ‘Last Night’ by The Mar-Keys and the Rik Mayall fans among you may find it to be very familiar…

All of these albums and records come highly recommended from me to you!
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

…Of course, you could spend a lot of time and money tracking all of those records down OR you could spend 11 bucks on a 12″ vinyl copy of “Love Lust Tales” from HERE which I designed the artwork for…

You May Also Be Interested In…
* The Soundtrack To My Life 07/06/2012
* The Soundtrack To My Life 08/05/2012
* The Soundtrack To My Life 15/04/2012

The Soundtrack To My Life. 02/09/2011.

I’m not dead!
…Although I am now almost 30 with a mortgage so, same thing really.
Heh heh.

This old blog will be back to normal in a few days but in the meantime, here are some of the albums I’ve been listening to whilst moving furniture over the past few days…

Bob Dylan’s “Theme Time Radio Hour”. Episode 3, Drinking (2006):

Gerry Rafferty’s “Can I Have My Money Back” (1972):

The latest from Lenny Kravitz, “Black And White America” (2011):

“Checkmate Savage” by The Phantom Band (2009):

Paul McCartney & Wings, “Red Rose Speedway” (1973):

“As Time Goes By …The Complete Schmilsson In The Night” by Harry Nilsson (1996):

The 2nd LP in Johnny Cash’s American Recordings Series, “American Recordings II: Unchained” (1996):

“Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!!” by Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds (2008):

John Lennon & Yoko Ono’s two way dialogue, “Double Fantasy” (1980):

“The Josua Tree” by U2 (1987):

Probably the latest record I’ve listened to is “Black And White America” from Lenny Kravitz and y’know what? It ain’t bad at all! -It’s pretty funky infact!
I like Kravitz but I’m an album guy and Lenny’s albums usually contain about 3 or 4 great singles with the rest being filler. “Black And White America” is a typical Kravitz album but his songs are getting better!
Maybe it’s ’cause I’ve missed him but I also really like the album cover photo.

I really enjoyed hearing that Gerry Rafferty album again.
Considering how much he’s loved here in Glasgow, it’s surprisingly difficult to find a Gerry Rafferty album for sale in the shops here.
“Can I Have My Money Back” was his debut album.

You’d do well to check out the rest of those records.
You’d do really well!

The blog will be back to normal in a couple of days folks!

Celebrity Mugshots (PART I).

You ever see the mugshot of Al Pacino as a kid?

Amazing to see how young Pacino is there.
That photo got me looking for other (In)famous mugshots and I”ve decided that ‘Ol Jim Morrison seems to hold the record:

Here are some of the other ones:

David Crosby:

Elvis Presley:

Johnny Cash:

Steve McQueen:

George Carlin:

But wait!
There’s some more!
Find them over in the next post HERE.

Last Known Photographs.

There’s a not very nice photo of John Lennon lying dead in a body bag on a stretcher available on the internet.
I saw it years ago and it’s always bothered me.
I was wondering about the last photo of Lennon alive.

I think it’s this one from the night he died:

That got me wondering about other last known photographs.
Here’s what I found:

Elvis Presley:

Jim Morrison:

Freddie Mercury:

Jimi Hendrix:

Ray Charles:

Johnny Cash: